[Droid Incredible Android Development] tdiman:
Wiping and backup problems have been fixed in CWM3 > 3.0.0.5. If you had trouble before, try again with ROM Manager. Try to flash the recovery at least twice before giving up, or use an alternate method below.

Ensure that "wipe recovery" option in ROM Manager settings is checked. There is no good reason to not have this checked. It should probably be the default. This will not affect your backups.

3.0.0.8 has fixed the SLCD problems. If you get the black screen with white bars, upgrade to 3.0.0.8.

Koush's official answer as to why you can't flash old .zip files with 3x.

Why you should upgrade to CWM 3 series from 2 series

CWM2 IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED AND MAY BREAK AT ANY TIME

ROM Manager won't work with 2 series anymore

support for journaling filesystems. Your data is safer.

pretty orange color

power down from recovery

better partitioning support

may be required for Cyanogenmod in the future. It is not required for the inc as of now.

Why you should not upgrade to CWM3 series

Fear of messing with recovery is not a good excuse

You want to install ROMs from ROM developers that use 2 year old technology and have refused to upgrade their zipping mechanisms (put pressure on them to change their installation scripts)

You like old ROMs that haven't been updated in ages

You are one of the few that the new recoveries don't work on. Ask and someone can probably help you get through this.

WHERE TO GET OLD VERSIONS OF CLOCKWORKMOD:

http://mirror1.kanged.net/recoveries/ - contains img files for all old versions

*http://dougpiston.com/?page_id=85 - contains PB31IMG for flashing through HBOOT, including 2.5.12 and 3.0.0.8. This is the easiest way to manually update recovery.

HOW TO INSTALL IMG FILES

***YOU SHOULD INSTALL THROUGH ROM MANGER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. TRY TWICE IF IT DOESN'T WORK ON THE FIRST TRY***

Rename the image file you're interested in to recovery.img

OPTION1: ADB

C:\YOUR_ADB_DIR\>adb shell
$su
$/system/bin/flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img

OPTION2: Android Terminal from phone

Copy the recovery.img to the root of your sd card.

$su
$/system/bin/flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img

OPTION3: Use PB31IMG.zip

Download specific recoveries from dougpiston.com

If it is not available elsewhere, oll your own PB31IMG.zip

This is not as hard as you think. Download any recovery PB31IMG.zip, such as the one attached to this thread. Replace the recovery.img in the zip file with the one of the desired CWM recovery. Rename to PB31IMG.zip. Place in root of your SDCARD. Reboot into HBOOT. Install.

What to do if you have trouble with CWM3

Check partitions for errors

Try installing through ROM Manager, or installing through one of the alternate methods listed above

make sure wipe recovery is checked in ROM Manager settings.

make sure you have the latest version of ROM Manager. Check in the market.

How to manually wipe recovery partition.

The utility is present in CM7 builds. I cannot vouch for other ROMs. This can also be done easily through fastboot mechanisms, but afaik fastboot is not available for the incredible because there are not leaked engineering HBOOTs.

This should never need to be done except in extreme circumstances.

$su
$/system/bin/erase_image recovery

How to get into recovery manually w/out ROM Manager

Shut down your phone. Hold down volume down. Press power, keeping volume down held. This is HBOOT. Scroll down to recovery and push the power button again.

HTC Incredible Amend vs. Edify: How to get old ROMs working with CWMv3

Amend and Edify are scripting languages used to write the installation routines for .zip files, including ROMs. Amend is quite old, from the cupcake days, and as such does not have features necessary for modern ROMs. To simplify development, Koush removed amend support with the advent of CWMv3. He had announced that he was going to do this for months. Nonetheless, some older ROMs that are not actively developed anymore may be desirable, and many of these do not use the more modern edify scripting. There is a thread here on how to easily convert amend scripts to edify using amend2edify: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=903598.

Other sources for help

IRC

#cyanogenmod or #koush - it is recommended you try the solutions noted in this thread first. Self initiative is important, but seek help if you need it.

Who are the people behind CWM:

koush is the primary developer, slayher and CUViper help adapt it to the incredible, I'm sure many others.

How to build Clockworkmod yourself:

http://www.koushikdutta.com/2010/10/porting-clockwork-recovery-to-new.html